Torped tube



"Ma 26, 1942. T. MARWOOD 2,284,331

' TORPEDO TUBE Filed Jan: 14, 1941 Patented May 26, 1 942 'roarnno TUBE Tom Marwood, Hythe, England, assignor to Hubert Scott-Paine,

England Hythe, Southampton,

Application January 14, 1941, Serial No. 374,319

In Great Britain September 11, 1939 r 1 Claim.

A torpedo includes in its mechanism various devices which require adjustment or setting prior to thedischarge of the torpedo. These are read ily accessible when a torpedo is stored separately from the tube and inserted into the tube immediately before firing, but in some cases, as for example in small high-speed motor torpedo boats, it may be desirable to carry one torpedo permanently in the tube, and in order to make these adjustments, suitably covered openings or doors are provided in the tube to give access to the torpedo inside. It follows, therefore, that the torpedo must be located angularly within the tube so that the various devices to be attended to register with the openings through which access is to be obtained to them. The devices include the gyroscope angling gear, gyroscope control, air lever trip gear, depth setting mechanism, stop valve, operating valve and so forth.

The object of this invention is to provide simple means for locating the torpedo in the tube, and according to this invention the locating means comprises a longitudinal guide inside the torpedo tube having a flared opening which receives a projection on the torpedo, and adjusts the torpedo angularly in the tube as it is pushed Preferably the guide aforesaid is situated near the inner end adjacent the rear door of the tube and engages a side fin or bracket on the torpedo.

Preferably a guide is situated at each side of the tube on a horizontal diameter thereof and The guide forming the subject matter of this inventionis constituted by a' pair of angle irons I4, I5 which are secured on the inner face of the wall of the tube l0 facing one another and spaced apart to receive between them one of' the brack ets l3. Preferably, there are two of these guides set on a horizontal diameter of the tube In, and

each guide is conveniently constituted by a pair of angle irons riveted or otherwise secured inside the tube.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates one embodiment of this invention, more or less diagrammatically:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the rear end of a torpedo tube, and

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 22 of Figure l to a larger scale.

In the drawing, a portion of the rear end of a torpedo tube is indicated by the reference I0, and its rear door, which is dished inwardly, at H. The rear end of a torpedo is indicated at l2, and it is provided with the usual brackets I 3 which carry the controlling fins.

parallel with one another over a length of, say

10 to 12 inches. They extend forwardly for a total length of, say, 25 to 30 inches, and diverge in a forward direction so that at the forward end IQ of the guide they are 5 inches'or so apart.

The torpedo is loaded into the tube from the forward end, and when doing so the fins l3 are set approximately in a horizontal position so that when the torpedo is pushed home the lateral brackets enterthe flared opening of the guide and are directed into the desired angular relationship as determined by the rear end of-the guide which is straight and parallel sided.

It is thereby assured that theangular setting of the torpedo is correct in the tube and access can be made by the openings indicated generally by the reference 20 to make any of the adjustirons one of the torpedo fins, said angle-irons of each pair being throughout substantial rear portions of their length parallel to one another and to the axis of said torpedo tube and throughout their forward portions diverging from one another.

TOM MARWOOD. 

